In this section we have collected short folk and original fairy tales from all over the world. These small instructive and kind stories will help children calm down after a stormy day and get ready for sleep.
In bedtime stories you will not find cruelty or frightening characters. Only light plots and pleasant characters.
At the bottom of every fairy tale there is clue, what age it is intended for, as well as other tags. Be sure to pay attention to them when choosing a piece! You don't have to waste time reading a fairy tale to find out whether it is suitable for your child or not. We have already read and sorted everything.
Enjoy reading and good dreams :)
short bedtime stories to read
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In the sweet carrot forest
Kozlov S.G. 
A fairy tale about what forest animals love most. And one day everything happened as they dreamed. In the sweet carrot forest read The hare loved carrots most of all. He said: - I would like it in the forest...
Magic herb St. John's wort
Kozlov S.G. 
A fairy tale about how the Hedgehog and the Little Bear looked at the flowers in the meadow. Then they saw a flower they didn’t know, and they became acquainted. It was St. John's wort. Magic herb St. John's wort read It was a sunny summer day. - Do you want me to give you something...
Green bird
Kozlov S.G. 
A tale about a Crocodile who really wanted to fly. And then one day he dreamed that he turned into a large Green bird with wide wings. He flew over the land and over the sea and talked with different animals. Green...
How to catch a cloud
Kozlov S.G. 
A fairy tale about how the Hedgehog and the Little Bear went fishing in the fall, but instead of fish they were bitten by the moon, then stars. And in the morning they pulled the sun out of the river. How to catch a cloud to read When the time has come...
Prisoner of the Caucasus
Tolstoy L.N. 
A story about two officers who served in the Caucasus and were captured by the Tatars. The Tatars ordered letters to be written to relatives demanding a ransom. Zhilin was from a poor family; there was no one to pay the ransom for him. But he was strong...
How much land does a person need?
Tolstoy L.N. 
The story is about the peasant Pakhom, who dreamed that he would have a lot of land, then the devil himself would not be afraid of him. He had the opportunity to inexpensively buy as much land as he could walk around before sunset. Wanting to have more...
Jacob's dog
Tolstoy L.N. 
A story about a brother and sister who lived near a forest. They had a shaggy dog. One day they went into the forest without permission and were attacked by a wolf. But the dog grappled with the wolf and saved the children. Dog …
Tolstoy L.N. 
The story is about an elephant who stepped on his owner because he was mistreating him. The wife was in grief. The elephant put his eldest son on his back and began to work hard for him. Elephant read...
What is everyone's favorite holiday? Of course, New Year! On this magical night, a miracle descends on the earth, everything sparkles with lights, laughter is heard, and Santa Claus brings long-awaited gifts. A huge number of poems are dedicated to the New Year. IN …
In this section of the site you will find a selection of poems about the main wizard and friend of all children - Santa Claus. Many poems have been written about the kind grandfather, but we have selected the most suitable ones for children aged 5,6,7 years. Poems about...
Winter has come, and with it fluffy snow, blizzards, patterns on the windows, frosty air. The children rejoice at the white flakes of snow and take out their skates and sleds from the far corners. Work is in full swing in the yard: they are building a snow fortress, an ice slide, sculpting...
A selection of short and memorable poems about winter and New Year, Santa Claus, snowflakes, and a Christmas tree for the younger group of kindergarten. Read and learn short poems with children 3-4 years old for matinees and New Year's Eve. Here …
This section contains fairy tales for primary schoolchildren 7-8-9-10 years. It seems to you that the child went to school and became very big. However, he did not stop believing in miracles and magic! By reading the best fairy tales from all over the world, a child learns about the world, learns to believe in himself, and develops imagination and thinking.
At this age, it is very important to consolidate and increase the love for the source of knowledge - books. Therefore, we have selected fairy tales that will understandable and interesting to the child. And illustrations from the best artists will help you love books even more!
fairy tales for children 7-8-9-10 years old to read
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In the sweet carrot forest
Kozlov S.G.
A fairy tale about what forest animals love most. And one day everything happened as they dreamed. In the sweet carrot forest read The hare loved carrots most of all. He said: - I would like it in the forest...
Magic herb St. John's wort
Kozlov S.G.
A fairy tale about how the Hedgehog and the Little Bear looked at the flowers in the meadow. Then they saw a flower they didn’t know, and they became acquainted. It was St. John's wort. Magic herb St. John's wort read It was a sunny summer day. - Do you want me to give you something...
Green bird
Kozlov S.G.
A tale about a Crocodile who really wanted to fly. And then one day he dreamed that he turned into a large Green bird with wide wings. He flew over the land and over the sea and talked with different animals. Green...
How to catch a cloud
Kozlov S.G.
A fairy tale about how the Hedgehog and the Little Bear went fishing in the fall, but instead of fish they were bitten by the moon, then stars. And in the morning they pulled the sun out of the river. How to catch a cloud to read When the time has come...
Prisoner of the Caucasus
Tolstoy L.N.
A story about two officers who served in the Caucasus and were captured by the Tatars. The Tatars ordered letters to be written to relatives demanding a ransom. Zhilin was from a poor family; there was no one to pay the ransom for him. But he was strong...
How much land does a person need?
Tolstoy L.N.
The story is about the peasant Pakhom, who dreamed that he would have a lot of land, then the devil himself would not be afraid of him. He had the opportunity to inexpensively buy as much land as he could walk around before sunset. Wanting to have more...
Jacob's dog
Tolstoy L.N.
A story about a brother and sister who lived near a forest. They had a shaggy dog. One day they went into the forest without permission and were attacked by a wolf. But the dog grappled with the wolf and saved the children. Dog …
Tolstoy L.N.
The story is about an elephant who stepped on his owner because he was mistreating him. The wife was in grief. The elephant put his eldest son on his back and began to work hard for him. Elephant read...
What is everyone's favorite holiday? Of course, New Year! On this magical night, a miracle descends on the earth, everything sparkles with lights, laughter is heard, and Santa Claus brings long-awaited gifts. A huge number of poems are dedicated to the New Year. IN …
In this section of the site you will find a selection of poems about the main wizard and friend of all children - Santa Claus. Many poems have been written about the kind grandfather, but we have selected the most suitable ones for children aged 5,6,7 years. Poems about...
Winter has come, and with it fluffy snow, blizzards, patterns on the windows, frosty air. The children rejoice at the white flakes of snow and take out their skates and sleds from the far corners. Work is in full swing in the yard: they are building a snow fortress, an ice slide, sculpting...
A selection of short and memorable poems about winter and New Year, Santa Claus, snowflakes, and a Christmas tree for the younger group of kindergarten. Read and learn short poems with children 3-4 years old for matinees and New Year's Eve. Here …
The squirrel jumped from branch to branch and fell straight onto the sleepy wolf. The wolf jumped up and wanted to eat her. The squirrel began to ask:
Let me in.
Wolf said:
Okay, I’ll let you in, just tell me why you squirrels are so cheerful. I’m always bored, but I look at you, you’re up there playing and jumping.
Belka said:
Let me go up the tree first, and from there I’ll tell you, otherwise I’m afraid of you.
The wolf let go, and the squirrel went up a tree and from there said:
You're bored because you're angry. Anger burns your heart. And we are cheerful because we are kind and do no harm to anyone.
Fairy tale "The Hare and the Man"
Russian traditional
A poor man, walking through an open field, saw a hare under a bush, was delighted and said:
That's when I'll live in a house! I’ll catch this hare and sell it for four altyns, with that money I’ll buy a pig, it will bring me twelve little pigs; the piglets will grow up and produce twelve more; I’ll kill everyone, I’ll save up a barn of meat; I’ll sell the meat, and with the money I’ll start a house and get married myself; my wife will give birth to two sons for me - Vaska and Vanka; The kids will start plowing the arable land, and I’ll sit under the window and give orders. “Hey, you guys,” I’ll shout, “Vaska and Vanka! Don’t force too many people to work: apparently, you didn’t live poorly yourself!”
Yes, the man shouted so loudly that the hare got scared and ran away, and the house with all its wealth, wife and children disappeared...
Fairy tale “How the fox got rid of the nettles in the garden”
One day a fox went out into the garden and saw that a lot of nettles had grown there. I wanted to pull it out, but decided that it wasn’t even worth trying. I was about to go into the house, but here comes the wolf:
Hello godfather, what are you doing?
And the sly fox answers him:
Oh, you see, godfather, how many beautiful things I have lost. Tomorrow I will clean and store it.
What for? - asks the wolf.
“Well,” says the fox, “the one who smells nettles is not taken by a dog’s fang.” Look, godfather, don’t come close to my nettles.
The fox turned and went into the house to sleep. She wakes up in the morning and looks out the window, and her garden is empty, not a single nettle remains. The fox smiled and went to prepare breakfast.
Fairy tale "Ryaba Hen"
Russian traditional
Once upon a time there lived a grandfather and a woman in the same village.
And they had a chicken. Named Ryaba.
One day the hen Ryaba laid an egg for them. Yes, not an ordinary egg, a golden one.
Grandfather beat and beat the testicle, but did not break it.
The woman beat and beat the egg, but didn’t break it.
The mouse ran, waved its tail, the egg fell and broke!
The grandfather is crying, the woman is crying. And Ryaba the hen says to them:
Don't cry grandpa, don't cry grandma! I will lay you a new egg, not just an ordinary one, but a golden one!
The Tale of the Greediest Man
Eastern fairy tale
In one city in the Hausa country there lived a miser named Na-hana. And he was so greedy that none of the residents of the city ever saw Na-khana give even water to a traveler. He would rather receive a couple of slaps than lose even a little of his fortune. And this was a considerable fortune. Na-khana himself probably did not know exactly how many goats and sheep he had.
One day, returning from the pasture, Na-khana saw that one of his goats had stuck its head into a pot, but could not get it out. Na-khana tried for a long time to remove the pot, but in vain. Then he called the butchers and, after a long bargain, sold them the goat on the condition that they would cut off its head and return the pot to him. The butchers slaughtered the goat, but when they took out its head, they broke the pot. Na-hana was furious.
I sold the goat at a loss, and you also broke the pot! - he shouted. And he even cried.
From then on, he did not leave the pots on the ground, but placed them somewhere higher, so that goats or sheep would not stick their heads into them and cause him damage. And people began to call him a great miser and the most greedy person.
Fairy tale "Ocheski"
Brothers Grimm
The beautiful girl was lazy and sloppy. When she had to spin, she was annoyed at every knot in the linen yarn and immediately tore it off to no avail and threw it in a heap on the floor.
She had a maid - a hardworking girl: it used to be that everything that the impatient beauty threw out would be collected, unraveled, cleaned and thinly rolled. And she accumulated so much material that it was enough for a nice dress.
A young man wooed the lazy, beautiful girl, and everything was prepared for the wedding.
At the bachelorette party, the diligent maid danced merrily in her dress, and the bride, looking at her, said mockingly:
“Look, how she’s dancing! How much fun she’s having! And she’s dressed up in my glasses!”
The groom heard this and asked the bride what she wanted to say. She told the groom that this maid had woven a dress for herself from the flax that she had discarded from her yarn.
As the groom heard this, he realized that the beauty was lazy, and the maid was zealous for work, so he approached the maid and chose her as his wife.
Fairy tale "Turnip"
Russian traditional
Grandfather planted a turnip and said:
Grow, grow, turnip, sweet! Grow, grow, turnip, strong!
The turnip grew sweet, strong, and big.
Grandfather went to pick a turnip: he pulled and pulled, but couldn’t pull it out.
Grandfather called grandma.
Grandma for grandfather
Grandfather for the turnip -
The grandmother called her granddaughter.
Granddaughter for grandmother,
Grandma for grandfather
Grandfather for the turnip -
They pull and pull, but they can’t pull it out.
The granddaughter called Zhuchka.
A bug for my granddaughter,
Granddaughter for grandmother,
Grandma for grandfather
Grandfather for the turnip -
They pull and pull, but they can’t pull it out.
Bug called the cat.
Cat for Bug,
A bug for my granddaughter,
Granddaughter for grandmother,
Grandma for grandfather
Grandfather for the turnip -
They pull and pull, but they can’t pull it out.
The cat called the mouse.
A mouse for a cat
Cat for Bug,
A bug for my granddaughter,
Granddaughter for grandmother,
Grandma for grandfather
Grandfather for the turnip -
They pulled and pulled and pulled out the turnip. That’s the end of the Turnip fairy tale, and whoever listened - well done! 
Fairy tale "The Sun and the Cloud"
Gianni Rodari
The sun rolled cheerfully and proudly across the sky on its fiery chariot and generously scattered its rays - in all directions!
And everyone had fun. Only the cloud was angry and grumbling at the sun. And no wonder - she was in a stormy mood.
- You're a spender! - the cloud frowned. - Leaky hands! Throw, throw your rays! Let's see what you're left with!
And in the vineyards, every berry caught the sun's rays and rejoiced at them. And there wasn’t a blade of grass, a spider or a flower, there wasn’t even a drop of water that didn’t try to get its piece of the sun.
- Well, you’re still a big spender! – the cloud did not subside. - Spend your wealth! You will see how they will thank you when you have nothing left to take!
The sun still rolled cheerfully across the sky and bestowed its rays in millions, billions.
When it counted them at sunset, it turned out that everything was in place - look, every single one!
Having learned about this, the cloud was so surprised that it immediately crumbled into hail. And the sun splashed merrily into the sea.
Fairy tale "Sweet porridge"
Brothers Grimm
Once upon a time there lived a poor, humble girl alone with her mother, and they had nothing to eat. One day a girl went into the forest and on the way met an old woman who already knew about her miserable life and gave her a clay pot. All he had to do was say: “Cook the pot!” - and delicious, sweet millet porridge will be cooked in it; and just tell him: “Potty, stop!” - and the porridge will stop cooking in it. The girl brought the pot home to her mother, and now they got rid of poverty and hunger and began to eat sweet porridge whenever they wanted.
One day the girl left home, and her mother said: “Cook the pot!” - and the porridge began to cook in it, and the mother ate her fill. But she wanted the pot to stop cooking the porridge, but she forgot the word. And so he cooks and cooks, and the porridge is already creeping over the edge, and the porridge is still being cooked. Now the kitchen is full, and the whole hut is full, and the porridge is creeping into another hut, and the street is all full, as if it wants to feed the whole world; and a great misfortune happened, and not a single person knew how to help him. Finally, when only the house remained intact, a girl comes; and only she said: “Potty, stop!” - he stopped cooking porridge; and the one who had to go back to the city had to eat his way in porridge. 
Fairy tale "Grouse and the Fox"
Tolstoy L.N.
The black grouse was sitting on a tree. The fox came up to him and said:
- Hello, black grouse, my friend, as soon as I heard your voice, I came to visit you.
“Thank you for your kind words,” said the black grouse.
The fox pretended not to hear and said:
-What are you saying? I can not hear. You, little black grouse, my friend, should come down to the grass for a walk and talk to me, otherwise I won’t hear from the tree.
Teterev said:
- I'm afraid to go on the grass. It is dangerous for us birds to walk on the ground.
- Or are you afraid of me? - said the fox.
“If I’m not afraid of you, I’m afraid of other animals,” said the black grouse. - There are all kinds of animals.
- No, little black grouse, my friend, today a decree has been announced so that there will be peace throughout the whole earth. Nowadays animals don’t touch each other.
“That’s good,” said the black grouse, “otherwise the dogs are running, if it were the old way, you would have to leave, but now you have nothing to be afraid of.”
The fox heard about the dogs, pricked up her ears and wanted to run.
-Where are you going? - said the black grouse. - After all, now there is a decree that the dogs will not be touched.
– Who knows! - said the fox. “Maybe they didn’t hear the decree.”
And she ran away.
Fairy tale "The Tsar and the Shirt"
Tolstoy L.N.
One king was sick and said:
“I’ll give half the kingdom to the one who cures me.”
Then all the wise men gathered and began to judge how to cure the king. No one knew. Only one sage said that the king could be cured. He said:
“If you find a happy person, take off his shirt and put it on the king, the king will recover.”
The king sent to look for a happy person throughout his kingdom; but the king's ambassadors traveled for a long time throughout the kingdom and could not find a happy person. There was not a single one that everyone was happy with. He who is rich is sick; whoever is healthy is poor; who is healthy and rich, but his wife is not good; and those whose children are not good - everyone complains about something.
One day the king’s son was walking past a hut late in the evening, and he heard someone say:
“Now, thank God, I’ve worked hard, eaten enough and go to bed; what else do I need?
The king's son was delighted and ordered the man's shirt to be taken off, and for it to be given him as much money as he wanted, and the shirt to be taken to the king.
The messengers came to the happy man and wanted to take off his shirt; but the happy one was so poor that he had no shirt on.
Fairy tale "Chocolate Road"
Gianni Rodari
There lived three little boys in Barletta - three brothers. They were walking outside the city one day and suddenly saw some strange road - flat, smooth and all brown.
– What, I wonder, is this road made of? – the older brother was surprised.
“I don’t know what, but not boards,” remarked the middle brother.
They wondered and wondered, and then sank to their knees and licked the road with their tongues.
And the road, it turns out, was all lined with chocolate bars. Well, the brothers, of course, were not at a loss - they began to feast on it. Piece by piece, they didn’t notice how the evening came. And they all gobble up chocolate. They ate it all the way! Not a piece of it remained. It was as if there was no road or chocolate at all!
-Where are we now? – the older brother was surprised.
– I don’t know where, but it’s not Bari! - answered the middle brother.
The brothers were confused - they didn’t know what to do. Luckily, a peasant came out to meet them, returning from the field with his cart.
“Let me take you home,” he suggested. And he took the brothers to Barletta, right to the house.
The brothers began to get out of the cart and suddenly saw that it was all made of cookies. They were delighted and, without thinking twice, began to devour her on both cheeks. There was nothing left of the cart - no wheels, no shaft. They ate everything.
That's how lucky three little brothers from Barletta were one day. No one has ever been so lucky, and who knows if they will ever be so lucky again.
Konstantin Ushinsky “Children in the Grove”
Two children, brother and sister, went to school. They had to pass by a beautiful, shady grove. It was hot and dusty on the road, but cool and cheerful in the grove.
- Do you know what? - said the brother to the sister. “We’ll still have time for school.” The school is now stuffy and boring, but the grove should be a lot of fun. Listen to the birds screaming there, and the squirrels, how many squirrels are jumping on the branches! Shouldn't we go there, sister?
The sister liked her brother's proposal. The children threw the alphabet into the grass, held hands and disappeared between the green bushes, under the curly birches. It was definitely fun and noisy in the grove. The birds fluttered constantly, sang and shouted; squirrels jumped on the branches; insects scurried about in the grass.
First of all, the children saw a golden bug.
“Come play with us,” the children said to the bug.
“I would love to,” answered the beetle, “but I don’t have time: I have to get myself lunch.”
“Play with us,” the children said to the yellow, furry bee.
“I don’t have time to play with you,” answered the bee, “I need to collect honey.”
-Won't you play with us? - the children asked the ant.
But the ant had no time to listen to them: he dragged a straw three times his size and hurried to build his cunning home.
The children turned to the squirrel, inviting it to also play with them, but the squirrel waved its fluffy tail and answered that it must stock up on nuts for the winter. The dove said: “I am building a nest for my little children.”
The little gray bunny ran to the stream to wash his face. The white strawberry flower also had no time to take care of the children: he took advantage of the beautiful weather and was in a hurry to prepare his juicy, tasty berries on time.
The children became bored that everyone was busy with their own business and no one wanted to play with them. They ran to the stream. A stream ran through the grove, babbling over the stones.
“You really have nothing to do,” the children told him, “Come play with us.”
- How! I have nothing to do? - the stream purred angrily. - Oh, you lazy children! Look at me: I work day and night and don’t know a minute of peace. Am I not the one who sings to people and animals? Who, besides me, washes clothes, turns mill wheels, carries boats and puts out fires? “Oh, I have so much work that my head is spinning,” the stream added and began to murmur over the stones.
The children became even more bored, and they thought that it would be better for them to go to school first, and then, on their way from school, go into the grove. But at that very time the boy noticed a tiny, beautiful robin on a green branch. She sat, it seemed, very calmly and, having nothing to do, whistled a joyful song.
- Hey you, cheerful singer! - the boy shouted to the robin. “It seems like you have absolutely nothing to do: just play with us.”
- How? - whistled the offended robin. - I have nothing to do? Didn’t I catch midges all day to feed my little ones! I am so tired that I cannot raise my wings, and even now I lull my dear children to sleep with a song. What did you do today, little sloths? You didn’t go to school, you didn’t learn anything, you’re running around the grove, and even preventing others from doing their work. Better go where you were sent, and remember that only those who have worked and done everything that was obliged to do are pleased to rest and play.
The children felt ashamed; They went to school and although they arrived late, they studied diligently.
Georgy Skrebitsky “Everyone in his own way”
In the summer, in a clearing in the forest, a little hare was born to a long-eared hare. He was not born helpless, naked, like some little mice or squirrels, not at all. He was born with gray fluffy fur, with open eyes, so nimble, independent, he could immediately run and even hide from enemies in the thick grass.
“You’ve done well,” the hare told him in her hare language. - Lie here quietly under the bush, don’t run anywhere, and if you start running, jumping, traces of your paws will remain on the ground. If a fox or wolf stumbles upon them, they will immediately follow your trail and eat you. Well, be smart, rest, gain more strength, but I need to run and stretch my legs.
And the hare, making a big leap, galloped off into the forest. Since then, the little hare was fed not only by her own mother, but also by other bunnies, those who accidentally ran into this clearing. After all, hares have had this habit since ancient times: if a hare comes across a baby, she doesn’t care whether it’s hers or someone else’s, she’ll definitely feed it milk.
Soon the little hare became completely stronger, grew up, began to eat lush grass and run through the forest, getting to know its inhabitants - birds and animals.
The days were fine, there was plenty of food around, and in the thick grass and bushes it was easy to hide from enemies.
The little bunny lived for himself and didn’t bother. So, without caring about anything, he lived through the warm summer.
But then autumn came. It's getting cold. The trees turned yellow. The wind tore withered leaves from the branches and circled over the forest. Then the leaves fell to the ground. They lay there restlessly: they fidgeted all the time, whispering to each other. And from this the forest was filled with an alarming rustle.
The little bunny almost couldn’t sleep. Every minute he became wary, listening to suspicious sounds. It seemed to him that it was not the leaves rustling in the wind, but that someone terrible was sneaking up on him from behind the bushes.
Even during the day, the hare often jumped up, ran from place to place, and looked for more reliable shelters. I searched and didn’t find it.
But while running through the forest, he saw a lot of new and interesting things that he had never seen before in the summer. He noticed that all his forest acquaintances - animals and birds - were busy about something, doing something.
One day he met a squirrel, but it did not jump, as usual, from branch to branch, but descended to the ground, picked a boletus mushroom, then grabbed it tightly in its teeth and jumped up the tree with it. There the squirrel stuck a mushroom into a fork between the branches. The little hare saw that several mushrooms were already hanging on the same tree.
- Why do you tear them and hang them on twigs? - he asked.
- What do you mean why? - answered the squirrel. “Winter will come soon, everything will be covered with snow, then it will be difficult to get food.” So now I’m in a hurry to prepare more supplies. I dry mushrooms on branches, collect nuts and acorns in hollows. Don’t you store food for the winter yourself?
“No,” answered the bunny, “I don’t know how to do this.” Mother bunny didn't teach me.
“Your business is bad,” the squirrel shook her head. “Then at least insulate your nest better, plug all the cracks with moss.”
“Yes, I don’t even have a nest,” the bunny became embarrassed. “I sleep under a bush, wherever I have to.”
- Well, this is no good! — the farm squirrel spread its paws. “I don’t know how you will survive the winter without food supplies, without a warm nest.”
And she again began her chores, and the bunny sadly hopped on.
Evening had already come, the hare reached a remote ravine. There he stopped and listened carefully. Every now and then small lumps of earth rolled down the ravine with a slight noise.
The little bunny stood up on his hind legs to get a better look at what was going on there in front. Yes, this is a badger busy near the hole. The hare ran up to him and said hello.
“Hello, oblique,” answered the badger. - Are you still jumping? Well, sit down, sit down. Wow, I’m tired, even my paws hurt! Look how much earth I raked out of the hole.
- Why are you raking it out? - asked the bunny.
— For winter, I clean the hole so that it is more spacious. I’ll clean it out, then drag moss and fallen leaves there and make a bed. Then I won’t be afraid of winter either. Lie down and lie down.
“And the squirrel advised me to build a nest for winter,” said the hare.
“Don’t listen to her,” the badger waved his paw. “She learned to build nests in trees from birds.” A waste of time. Animals need to live in a hole. This is how I live. Help me better dig emergency exits from the hole. We’ll arrange everything as needed, climb into the hole, and spend the winter together.
“No, I don’t know how to dig a hole,” answered the bunny. “And I won’t be able to sit underground in a hole, I’ll suffocate there.” It's better to rest under a bush.
“The frost will soon show you how to rest under a bush!” - the badger answered angrily. - Well, if you don’t want to help me, then run wherever you want. Don’t bother me with arranging my home.
Not far from the water, someone large and clumsy was fiddling around an aspen tree. “He’s the beaver,” the bunny saw and in two leaps found himself next to him.
- Hello, buddy, what are you doing here? - asked the bunny.
“Yes, I’m working, gnawing aspen,” the beaver answered slowly. “I’ll throw it on the ground, then I’ll start biting the branches, dragging them into the river, and insulating my hut for winter.” You see, my house is on the island - it’s built all out of branches, and the cracks are coated with silt, inside I’m warm and cozy.
- How can I enter your house? - asked the bunny. - The entrance is nowhere to be seen.
— The entrance to my hut is located below, under water. I will swim to the island, dive to the very bottom, and there I will find the entrance to my house. There is no better animal house than my hut. Let's insulate it together for winter, and let's spend the winter together.
“No,” answered the little hare, “I don’t know how to dive and swim under water, I’ll drown right away, I’d rather spend the winter under a bush.”
“You shouldn’t want to spend the winter with me,” the beaver answered and began gnawing on the aspen tree.
Suddenly something rustles in the bushes! Kosoy was about to run away, but then an old acquaintance, a hedgehog, looked out from the fallen leaves.
- Great, buddy! - he shouted. - Why are you so sad, your ears hanging open?
“My friends upset me,” answered the bunny. “They say you need to build a warm nest or hut for the winter, but I don’t know how.”
— Build a hut? - the hedgehog laughed. - This is nonsense! You better do what I do: every night I eat more, store more fat, and when I have enough stored, then I will start to feel sleepy. Then I will climb into the fallen leaves, into the moss, curl up in a ball and fall asleep for the whole winter. And when you sleep, then neither frost nor wind are afraid of you.
“No,” answered the bunny, “I won’t be able to sleep all winter.” My sleep is sensitive, disturbing, I wake up every minute from every rustle.
“Well, then do as you please,” answered the hedgehog. - Goodbye, it’s time for me to look for a place for my winter sleep.
And the animal disappeared into the bushes again.
The little hare trudged further through the forest. Wandered, wandered. The night has already passed, the morning has come. He got out into the clearing. He looks - there are many, many blackbirds gathered on it. All the trees are stuck around and are jumping on the ground, screaming, chattering, arguing about something.
- What are you arguing about? - the little bunny asked the blackbird, who was sitting closer to him.
- Yes, we are discussing when we should fly from here to warm countries for the winter.
- Aren’t you going to stay in our forest for the winter?
- What are you, what are you! - the blackbird was surprised. - In winter, snow will fall and cover the entire ground and tree branches. Where can you get food then? We fly with us to the south, where it’s warm in winter and there’s plenty of food.
“Don’t you see, I don’t even have wings,” the hare answered sadly. “I’m an animal, not a bird.” Animals don't know how to fly.
“That’s not true,” the blackbird objected. - Bats are also animals, but they fly no worse than us birds. They have already flown south, to warm countries.
The little hare didn’t answer the blackbird, he just waved his paw and ran away.
“How am I going to spend the winter? - he thought anxiously, - All animals and birds each prepare for winter in their own way. But I have neither a warm nest, nor food supplies, and I won’t be able to fly south. I’ll probably have to die of hunger and cold.”
Another month has passed. The bushes and trees have shed their last leaves. The time has come for rain and cold weather. The forest became gloomy and dull. Most of the birds flew to warm countries. The animals hid in holes, in nests, in lairs. The little bunny was not happy in the empty forest, and besides, something bad happened to him: the bunny suddenly noticed that his skin began to turn white. The summer gray wool was replaced by a new one - fluffy, warm, but completely white. First the hind legs, sides, then the back and finally the head turned white. Only the tips of the ears remained black.
“How can I hide from my enemies now? - the hare thought with horror. “In a white fur coat, both the fox and the hawk will immediately notice me.” And the little hare hid in the very wilderness, under bushes, in swampy thickets. However, even there, his white fur coat could easily give him away to the keen eye of a predator.
But then one day, when the little bunny was lying, crawling under a bush, he saw that everything around him had suddenly darkened. The sky was covered with clouds; However, rain did not start dripping from them, but something white and cold fell down.
The first snowflakes swirled in the air and began to land on the ground, on the faded grass, on the bare branches of bushes and trees. With every second the snow fell thicker and thicker. It was no longer possible to see the nearest trees. Everything was drowned in a solid white stream.
The snow stopped only in the evening. The sky cleared, the stars appeared, bright and radiant, like blue frosty needles. They illuminated the fields and forests, dressed up and covered with the white blanket of winter.
Night had long fallen, and the bunny was still lying under the bush. He was afraid to get out of his ambush and go for a night walk through this unusually white land.
Finally, hunger forced him to leave the shelter and look for food.
Finding it was not so difficult - the snow only slightly covered the ground and did not even hide the smallest bushes.
But a completely different misfortune happened: as soon as the little hare jumped out from under the bushes and ran across the clearing, he was horrified to see that a string of his tracks was trailing behind him everywhere.
“Following such tracks, any enemy can easily find me,” thought the oblique one.
Therefore, when in the morning he again went for a day's rest, the bunny confused his tracks even more thoroughly than before.
Only after doing this, he hid under a bush and dozed off.
But winter brought with it more than just grief. When dawn broke, the little hare was happy to see that his white coat was completely invisible on the white snow. The bunny seemed to be dressed in an invisible fur coat. In addition, it was much warmer than his summer gray skin, and perfectly protected him from frost and wind.
“Winter is not so terrible,” the little bunny decided and calmly dozed off for the whole day until the evening.
But only the beginning of winter turned out to be so pleasant, and then things went worse and worse. There was a lot of snow. It was almost impossible to dig through it to get to the remaining greenery. The little hare ran in vain through the high snowdrifts in search of food. It was not often that he managed to chew some twig sticking out from under the snow.
One day, while running in search of food, the hare saw the forest giants, elk. They stood calmly in the aspen forest and gnawed with appetite at the bark and shoots of young aspen trees.
“Let me try,” thought the bunny. “The only problem is: moose have high legs, long necks, it’s easy for them to reach young shoots, but how can I get them?”
But then a tall snowdrift caught his eye. The little hare jumped on him, stood on his hind legs, easily reached out to the young, thin branches and began to gnaw them. Then he gnawed the aspen bark. He found all this very tasty, and he ate his fill.
“So the snow didn’t cause any big trouble,” the scythe decided. “He hid the grass, but allowed him to reach the branches of bushes and trees.”
Everything would have been fine, but the frost and wind began to bother the bunny. Even a warm fur coat couldn’t save him.
There was nowhere to hide from the cold in the bare winter forest.
“Wow, it’s so cold!” - said the scythe, running through the forest clearing to warm up a little.
The day had already come, it was high time to go on vacation, but the hare still could not find a place to hide from the icy wind.
Birch trees grew at the very edge of the clearing. Suddenly the little hare saw that large forest birds, black grouse, were calmly sitting on them and feeding. They flew here to feast on the catkins that hung at the ends of thin branches.
“Well, you’ve eaten enough, it’s time to rest,” said the old black grouse to his brothers. “Let’s quickly hide in holes from the angry wind.”
“What kind of burrows could black grouse have?” — the bunny was surprised.
But then he saw that the old black grouse, having fallen from the branch, fell in a lump straight into the snow, as if he had dived into water. The other black grouse did the same, and soon the whole flock disappeared under the snow.
“Is it really warm there?” — the bunny was surprised and decided to immediately try to dig himself a snow hole. And what? It turned out to be much warmer in the hole under the snow than on the surface. There was no wind, and the frost bothered us much less.
From then on, the bunny became quite comfortable with how to spend the winter. A white fur coat in a white forest protected him from the eyes of the enemy, snowdrifts helped him reach succulent shoots, and a deep hole in the snow saved him from the cold. The little hare felt no worse in winter among the snow-covered bushes than in the summer in green flowering thickets. He didn't even notice how winter had passed.
And then the sun warmed up again, melted the snow, the grass turned green again, the leaves bloomed on the bushes and trees. Birds have returned from southern countries.
The busy squirrel crawled out of the nest where it hid from the cold in winter. A badger, a beaver and a prickly hedgehog got out of their shelters. Each of them talked about how he spent the long winter. Everyone thought that they had carried it out better than others. And all together they were surprised, looking at the hare. How, poor fellow, did he spend the winter without a warm nest, without a hole, without food supplies? And the bunny listened to his friends and just chuckled. After all, he lived quite well in the winter in his snow-white invisible fur coat.
Even now, in the spring, he was also wearing an invisible fur coat, only a different one, to match the color of the earth - not white, but gray.
Alexander Kuprin "Elephant"
The little girl is unwell. Doctor Mikhail Petrovich, whom she has known for a long, long time, visits her every day. And sometimes he brings with him two more doctors, strangers. They turn the girl over on her back and stomach, listen to something, putting her ear to her body, pull her eyelids down and look. At the same time, they snort somehow importantly, their faces are stern, and they speak to each other in an incomprehensible language.
Then they move from the nursery to the living room, where their mother is waiting for them. The most important doctor - tall, gray-haired, wearing gold glasses - tells her about something seriously and at length. The door is not closed, and the girl can see and hear everything from her bed. There is a lot she doesn’t understand, but she knows that this is about her. Mom looks at the doctor with big, tired, tear-stained eyes. Saying goodbye, the chief doctor says loudly:
“The main thing is don’t let her get bored.” Fulfill all her whims.
- Ah, doctor, but she doesn’t want anything!
- Well, I don’t know... remember what she liked before, before her illness. Toys... some treats...
- No, no, doctor, she doesn’t want anything...
- Well, try to entertain her somehow... Well, at least with something... I give you my word of honor that if you manage to make her laugh, cheer her up, then this will be the best medicine. Understand that your daughter is sick with indifference to life, and nothing else... Goodbye, madam!
“Dear Nadya, my dear girl,” says mom, “wouldn’t you like something?”
- No, mom, I don’t want anything.
“If you want, I’ll put all your dolls on your bed.” We will supply an armchair, a sofa, a table and a tea set. The dolls will drink tea and talk about the weather and the health of their children.
- Thank you, mom... I don’t feel like it... I’m bored...
- Well, okay, my girl, no need for dolls. Or maybe I should invite Katya or Zhenechka to come to you? You love them so much.
- No need, mom. Really, it's not necessary. I don't want anything, nothing. I am so bored!
- Would you like me to bring you some chocolate?
But the girl does not answer and looks at the ceiling with motionless, sad eyes. She doesn't have any pain and doesn't even have a fever. But she is losing weight and weakening every day. No matter what they do to her, she doesn’t care, and she doesn’t need anything. She lies like that all days and whole nights, quiet, sad. Sometimes she dozes off for half an hour, but even in her dreams she sees something gray, long, boring, like autumn rain.
When the door to the living room is open from the nursery, and from the living room further into the office, the girl sees her dad. Dad walks quickly from corner to corner and smokes and smokes. Sometimes he comes to the nursery, sits on the edge of the bed and quietly strokes Nadya’s legs. Then he suddenly gets up and goes to the window.
He whistles something, looking down at the street, but his shoulders are shaking. Then he hastily applies a handkerchief to one eye, then to the other, and, as if angry, goes to his office. Then he again runs from corner to corner and everything... smokes, smokes, smokes... And the office becomes all blue from tobacco smoke.
But one morning the girl wakes up a little more cheerful than usual. She saw something in a dream, but she can’t remember what exactly, and looks long and carefully into her mother’s eyes.
- Do you need something? - asks mom.
But the girl suddenly remembers her dream and says in a whisper, as if in secret:
- Mom... can I... have an elephant? Just not the one drawn in the picture... Is it possible?
- Of course, my girl, of course you can.
She goes to the office and tells dad that the girl wants an elephant. Dad immediately puts on his coat and hat and leaves somewhere. Half an hour later he returns with an expensive, beautiful toy. This is a large gray elephant, which itself shakes its head and wags its tail; there is a red saddle on the elephant, and on the saddle there is a golden tent, and three little men are sitting in it. But the girl looks at the toy as indifferently as at the ceiling and walls, and says listlessly:
- No. This is not the same at all. I wanted a real, living elephant, but this one is dead.
“Just look, Nadya,” says dad. “We’ll start him up now, and he’ll be just like alive.”
The elephant is wound with a key, and he, shaking his head and wagging his tail, begins to step with his feet and slowly walks along the table. The girl is not at all interested in this and is even bored, but in order not to upset her father, she whispers meekly:
“I thank you very, very much, dear dad.” I think no one has such an interesting toy... Only... remember... you promised long ago to take me to the menagerie to look at a real elephant... and you never got lucky...
“But listen, my dear girl, understand that this is impossible.” The elephant is very big, it reaches the ceiling, it won’t fit in our rooms... And then, where can I get it?
- Dad, I don’t need such a big one... Bring me at least a small one, just a living one. Well, at least this one... At least a baby elephant...
“Dear girl, I’m glad to do everything for you, but I can’t do this.” After all, it’s the same as if you suddenly told me: Dad, get me the sun from the sky.
The girl smiles sadly.
- How stupid you are, dad. Don't I know that you can't reach the sun because it burns. And the moon is also not allowed. No, I would like an elephant... a real one.
And she quietly closes her eyes and whispers:
- I'm tired... Excuse me, dad...
Dad grabs his hair and runs into the office. There he flashes from corner to corner for some time. Then he decisively throws the half-smoked cigarette on the floor (for which he always gets it from his mother) and shouts to the maid:
- Olga! Coat and hat!
The wife comes out into the hall.
-Where are you going, Sasha? she asks.
He breathes heavily, buttoning his coat.
“I myself, Mashenka, don’t know where... Only, it seems that by this evening I will actually bring a real elephant here, to us.”
His wife looks at him worriedly.
- Honey, are you okay? Do you have a headache? Maybe you didn't sleep well today?
“I didn’t sleep at all,” he answers.
angrily. “I see you want to ask if I’ve gone crazy?” Not yet. Goodbye! In the evening everything will be visible.
And he disappears, loudly slamming the front door.
Two hours later, he sits in the menagerie, in the first row, and watches how the learned animals, on the orders of the owner, make various things. Smart dogs jump, tumble, dance, sing to music, and form words from large cardboard letters. Monkeys - some in red skirts, others in blue pants - walk on a tightrope and ride on a large poodle. Huge red lions jump through burning hoops. A clumsy seal shoots from a pistol. At the end the elephants are brought out. There are three of them: one big, two very small, dwarfs, but still much taller than a horse. It’s strange to watch how these huge animals, so clumsy and heavy in appearance, perform the most difficult tricks that even a very dexterous person cannot do. The largest elephant is especially distinctive. He first stands on his hind legs, sits down, stands on his head, feet up, walks on wooden bottles, walks on a rolling barrel, turns the pages of a large cardboard book with his trunk and finally sits down at the table and, tied with a napkin, has dinner, just like a well-bred boy .
The show ends. The spectators disperse. Nadya's father approaches the fat German, the owner of the menagerie. The owner stands behind a plank partition and holds a large black cigar in his mouth.
“Excuse me, please,” Nadya’s father says. —Can you let your elephant go to my house for a while?
The German opens his eyes wide in surprise and then his mouth, causing the cigar to fall to the ground. Groaning, he bends down, picks up the cigar, puts it back in his mouth and only then says:
- Let go? An elephant? Home? I do not understand.
It’s clear from the German’s eyes that he also wants to ask if Nadya’s father has a headache... But the father hastily explains what’s the matter: his only daughter, Nadya, is sick with some strange disease, which even the doctors don’t understand how follows. She has been lying in her crib for a month now, losing weight, getting weaker every day, not interested in anything, bored and slowly fading away. The doctors tell her to entertain her, but she doesn't like anything; they tell her to fulfill all her wishes, but she has no wishes. Today she wanted to see a live elephant. Is it really impossible to do this? And he adds in a trembling voice, taking the German by the button of his coat:
- Well, here... I, of course, hope that my girl will recover. But... God forbid... what if her illness ends badly... what if the girl dies?.. Just think: all my life I will be tormented by the thought that I did not fulfill her last, very last wish!..
The German frowns and scratches his left eyebrow with his little finger in thought. Finally he asks:
- Hm... How old is your girl?
- Hm... My Lisa is also six. Hm... But, you know, it will cost you a lot. You will have to bring the elephant at night and only take it back the next night. During the day you can't. The public will gather, and there will be one scandal... Thus, it turns out that I am losing the whole day, and you must return the loss to me.
- Oh, of course, of course... don't worry about it...
— Then: will the police allow one elephant into one house?
- I'll arrange it. Will allow.
— One more question: will the owner of your house allow one elephant into his house?
- It will allow it. I am the owner of this house myself.
- Yeah! This is even better. And then one more question: on which floor do you live?
- In the second.
- Hm... This is not so good... Do you have a wide staircase, a high ceiling, a large room, wide doors and a very strong floor in your house? Because my Tommy is three arshins and four inches high, and five and a half arshins long. In addition, it weighs one hundred and twelve pounds.
Nadya's father thinks for a minute.
- Do you know what? - he says. - Let's go to my place now and look at everything on the spot. If necessary, I will order the passage in the walls to be widened.
- Very good! — the owner of the menagerie agrees.
At night, an elephant is taken to visit a sick girl. Wearing a white blanket, he strides importantly down the very middle of the street, shaking his head and curling and then developing his trunk. There is a large crowd around him, despite the late hour. But the elephant does not pay attention to her: every day he sees hundreds of people in the menagerie. Only once did he get a little angry.
Some street boy ran up to his very feet and began to make faces for the amusement of onlookers. Then the elephant calmly took off his hat with its trunk and threw it over a nearby fence studded with nails.
The policeman walks among the crowd and persuades her:
- Gentlemen, please leave. And what do you find so unusual here? I'm surprised! It’s as if we’ve never seen a live elephant on the street.
They approach the house. On the stairs, as well as along the entire path of the elephant, all the way to the dining room, all the doors were wide open, for which it was necessary to beat off the door latches with a hammer. The same thing was done once when a large miraculous icon was brought into the house. But in front of the stairs, the elephant stops, restless and stubborn.
“We need to give him some kind of treat...” says the German. - Some sweet bun or something... But... Tommy!.. Wow... Tommy!..
Nadine's father runs to a nearby bakery and buys a large round pistachio cake. The elephant discovers a desire to swallow it whole along with the cardboard box, but the German only gives him a quarter. Tommy likes the cake and reaches out with his trunk for a second slice. However, the German turns out to be more cunning. Holding a delicacy in his hand, he rises up from step to step, and the elephant with an outstretched trunk and outstretched ears inevitably follows him. On the set, Tommy gets his second piece.
Thus, he is brought to the dining room, from where all the furniture has been removed in advance, and the floor is thickly covered with straw... The elephant is tied by the leg to a ring screwed into the floor. Fresh carrots, cabbage and turnips are placed in front of him. The German is located nearby, on the sofa. The lights are turned off and everyone goes to bed.
The next day the girl wakes up at dawn and first of all asks:
- What about the elephant? He came?
“He came,” my mother answers, “but he only ordered Nadya to wash herself first, and then eat a soft-boiled egg and drink hot milk.”
- Is he kind?
- He is kind. Eat up, girl. Now we will go to him.
- Is he funny?
- A little. Put on a warm blouse.
The egg was eaten and the milk was drunk. Nadya is put in the same stroller in which she rode when she was still so small that she could not walk at all, and they take her to the dining room.
The elephant turns out to be much larger than Nadya thought when she looked at it in the picture. He is only slightly taller than the door, and in length he occupies half the dining room. His skin is rough, with heavy folds. The legs are thick, like pillars.
A long tail with something like a broom at the end. The head is full of big bumps. The ears are large, like mugs, and hang down. The eyes are very tiny, but smart and kind. The fangs are trimmed. The trunk is like a long snake and ends in two nostrils, and between them a movable, flexible finger. If the elephant had stretched out its trunk to its full length, it would probably have reached the window. The girl is not scared at all. She is only a little amazed by the enormous size of the animal. But the nanny, sixteen-year-old Polya, begins to squeal in fear.
The owner of the elephant, a German, comes up to the stroller and says:
- Good morning, young lady. Please don't be afraid. Tommy is very kind and loves children.
The girl extends her small pale hand to the German.
- Hello. How are you? - she answers. “I’m not the least bit afraid.” And what is his name?
“Hello, Tommy,” the girl says and bows her head. Because the elephant is so big, she does not dare to speak to him on a personal level. - How did you sleep last night?
She extends her hand to him too. The elephant carefully takes and shakes her thin fingers with his mobile strong finger and does it much more tenderly than Doctor Mikhail Petrovich. At the same time, the elephant shakes its head, and its small eyes are completely narrowed, as if laughing.
- He understands everything, doesn’t he? - the girl asks the German.
- Oh, absolutely everything, young lady!
- But he’s the only one who doesn’t speak?
- Yes, but he doesn’t speak. You know, I also have one daughter, just as small as you. Her name is Liza. Tommy is a great, great friend of hers.
— Have you, Tommy, already had tea? - the girl asks the elephant.
The elephant again stretches out its trunk and blows warm, strong air right into the girl’s face.
breathing, causing the light hair on the girl’s head to fly in all directions.
Nadya laughs and claps her hands. The German laughs loudly. He himself is as big, fat and good-natured as an elephant, and Nadya thinks that they both look alike. Maybe they are related?
- No, he didn’t drink tea, young lady. But he happily drinks sugar water. He also loves buns very much.
They bring a tray of bread rolls. A girl treats an elephant. He deftly grabs the bun with his finger and, bending his trunk into a ring, hides it somewhere down under his head, where his funny, triangular, furry lower lip moves. You can hear the roll rustling against dry skin. Tommy does the same with another bun, and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, and nods his head in gratitude, and his little eyes narrow even more with pleasure. And the girl laughs joyfully.
When all the buns are eaten, Nadya introduces the elephant to her dolls:
- Look, Tommy, this elegant doll is Sonya. She is a very kind child, but she is a little capricious and does not want to eat soup. And this is Natasha, Sonya’s daughter. She is already starting to learn and knows almost all the letters. And this is Matryoshka. This is my very first doll. You see, she has no nose, and her head is glued on and there is no more hair. But still, you can’t kick the old lady out of the house. Really, Tommy? She used to be Sonya’s mother, and now she serves as our cook. Well, let's play, Tommy: you will be the dad, and I will be the mom, and these will be our children.
Tommy agrees. He laughs, takes Matryoshka by the neck and drags it into his mouth. But this is just a joke. After lightly chewing the doll, he again places it on the girl’s lap, albeit a little wet and dented.
Then Nadya shows him a large book with pictures and explains:
- This is a horse, this is a canary, this is a gun... Here is a cage with a bird, here is a bucket, a mirror, a stove, a shovel, a crow... And this, look, this is an elephant! It really doesn't look like it at all? Are elephants really that small, Tommy?
Tommy finds that there are never such small elephants in the world. In general, he doesn’t like this picture. He grabs the edge of the page with his finger and turns it over.
It's time for lunch, but the girl can't be torn away from the elephant. A German comes to the rescue:
- Let me arrange all this. They will have lunch together.
He orders the elephant to sit down. The elephant obediently sits down, causing the floor in the entire apartment to shake, the dishes in the closet to rattle, and the plaster of the lower residents to fall from the ceiling. A girl sits opposite him. A table is placed between them. A tablecloth is tied around the elephant's neck, and the new friends begin to dine. The girl eats chicken soup and cutlet, and the elephant eats various vegetables and salad. The girl is given a tiny glass of sherry, and the elephant is given warm water with a glass of rum, and he happily pulls this drink out of the bowl with his trunk. Then they get sweets - the girl gets a cup of cocoa, and the elephant gets half a cake, this time a nut one. At this time, the German is sitting with his dad in the living room and drinking beer with the same pleasure as an elephant, only in larger quantities.
After lunch, some of my father’s friends come, they are warned in the hall about the elephant so that they don’t get scared. At first they don’t believe it, and then, seeing Tommy, they crowd towards the door.
- Don't be afraid, he's kind! - the girl reassures them. But the acquaintances hastily go into the living room and, without sitting for even five minutes, leave.
Evening is coming. Late. It's time for the girl to go to bed. However, it is impossible to pull her away from the elephant. She falls asleep next to him, and they take her, already sleepy, to the nursery. She doesn't even hear how they undress her.
That night Nadya dreams that she married Tommy and they have many children, small, cheerful elephants. The elephant, which was taken to the menagerie at night, also sees a sweet, affectionate girl in a dream. In addition, he dreams of large cakes, walnut and pistachio, the size of gates...
In the morning the girl wakes up cheerful, fresh and, as in the old days, when she was still healthy, shouts to the whole house, loudly and impatiently:
- Mo-loch-ka!
Hearing this cry, my mother joyfully crosses herself in her bedroom.
But the girl immediately remembers yesterday and asks:
- And the elephant?
They explain to her that the elephant went home on business, that he has children who cannot be left alone, that he asked to bow to Nadya and that he is waiting for her to visit him when she is healthy.
The girl smiles slyly and says:
- Tell Tommy that I’m completely healthy!
Mikhail Prishvin "Guys and Ducklings"
A small wild teal duck finally decided to move her ducklings from the forest, bypassing the village, into the lake to freedom. In the spring, this lake overflowed far, and a solid place for a nest could only be found about three miles away, on a hummock, in a swampy forest. And when the water subsided, we had to travel all three miles to the lake.
In places open to the eyes of man, fox and hawk, the mother walked behind so as not to let the ducklings out of sight for a minute. And near the forge, when crossing the road, she, of course, let them go ahead. That’s where the guys saw them and threw their hats at them. The whole time they were catching the ducklings, the mother ran after them with her beak open and flew several steps in different directions in the greatest excitement. The guys were just about to throw hats at their mother and catch her like ducklings, but then I approached.
- What will you do with the ducklings? - I asked the guys sternly.
They chickened out and replied:
- Let's go.
- Let’s “let it go”! - I said angrily. - Why did you need to catch them? Where is mother now?
- And there he sits! - the guys answered in unison. And they pointed me to a nearby hillock of a fallow field, where the duck was actually sitting with her mouth open in excitement.
“Quickly,” I ordered the guys, “go and return all the ducklings to her!”
They even seemed to be delighted at my order and ran up the hill with the ducklings. The mother flew away a little and, when the guys left, rushed to save her sons and daughters. In her own way, she quickly said something to them and ran to the oat field. Five ducklings ran after her. And so, through the oat field, bypassing the village, the family continued its journey to the lake.
I joyfully took off my hat and, waving it, shouted:
- Bon voyage, ducklings!
The guys laughed at me.
-Why are you laughing, you fools? - I told the guys. — Do you think it’s so easy for ducklings to get into the lake? Just wait, wait for the university exam. Take off all your hats and shout “goodbye!”
And the same hats, dusty on the road while catching ducklings, rose into the air; the guys all shouted at once:
- Goodbye, ducklings!
Mikhail Prishvin “Fox Bread”
One day I walked in the forest all day and in the evening I returned home with rich booty. I took the heavy bag off my shoulders and began to lay out my belongings on the table.
- What kind of bird is this? - Zinochka asked.
“Terenty,” I answered.
And he told her about the black grouse, how he lives in the forest, how he mutters in the spring, how he pecks at birch buds, collects berries in the swamps in the fall, and warms himself from the wind under the snow in winter. He also told her about the hazel grouse, showed her that it was gray with a tuft, and whistled into the pipe in the hazel grouse style and let her whistle. I also poured a lot of porcini mushrooms, both red and black, onto the table. I also had in my pocket a bloody boneberry, and a blue blueberry, and a red lingonberry. I also brought with me a fragrant lump of pine resin, gave it to the girl to smell and said that trees are treated with this resin.
- Who treats them there? - Zinochka asked.
“They are treating themselves,” I answered. “Sometimes a hunter comes and wants to rest, he’ll stick an ax into a tree and hang his bag on the ax, and lie down under the tree.” He'll sleep and rest. He takes an ax out of the tree, puts on a bag, and leaves. And from the wound from the wood ax this fragrant resin will run and heal the wound.
Also, especially for Zinochka, I brought various wonderful herbs, one leaf at a time, a root at a time, a flower at a time: cuckoo’s tears, valerian, Peter’s cross, hare’s cabbage. And just under the hare cabbage I had a piece of black bread: it always happens to me that when I don’t take bread into the forest, I’m hungry, but if I take it, I forget to eat it and bring it back. And Zinochka, when she saw black bread under my hare cabbage, was stunned:
-Where did the bread come from in the forest?
- What's surprising here? After all, there is cabbage...
- Hare...
- And the bread is chanterelle bread. Taste it.
She tasted it carefully and started eating.
— Good chanterelle bread.
And she ate all my black bread clean. That's how it went for us. Zinochka, such a copula, often won’t even take white bread, but when I bring fox bread from the forest, she will always eat it all and praise it:
- Fox bread is much better than ours!
Yuri Koval "Grandfather, Grandmother and Alyosha"
Grandfather and woman argued about who their grandson looked like.
Baba says:
- Alyosha looks like me. Just as smart and economical.
Alyosha says:
- That's right, that's right, I look like a woman.
Grandfather says:
- And, in my opinion, Alyosha looks like me. He has the same eyes - beautiful, black. And he will probably have the same big beard when Alyosha himself grows up.
Alyosha wanted him to grow a beard like that, and he says:
- That's right, that's right, I look more like my grandfather.
Baba says:
- How big a beard will grow is still unknown. But Alyosha is much more like me. Just like me, he loves tea with honey, gingerbread, jam and cheesecakes with cottage cheese. But the samovar was just in time. Now let's see who Alyosha is more like.
Alyosha thought for a moment and said:
“Perhaps I still look a lot like a woman.”
Grandfather scratched his head and said:
— Tea with honey is not a complete similarity. But Alyosha, just like me, loves to harness a horse and then ride a sled into the forest. Now let’s lay down the sled and go into the forest. There, they say, moose have appeared and are grazing the hay from our stack. We need to take a look.
Alyosha thought and thought and said:
“You know, grandpa, things happen so strangely in my life.” I look like a woman for half a day, and for half a day I look like you. Now I’ll drink some tea and I’ll immediately look like you.
And while Alyosha drank tea, he closed his eyes and puffed like a grandmother, and when they raced on a sled into the forest, just like his grandfather, he shouted: “But-oooh, honey! Let's! Let's!" - and cracked his whip.
Yuri Koval "Stozhok"
By the way, Uncle Zui lived in an old bathhouse near the bend of the Yalma River.
He lived not alone, but with his granddaughter Nyurka, and he had everything he needed - chickens and a cow.
“There’s just no pig,” said Uncle Zui. “What does a good man need a pig?”
Back in the summer, Uncle Zui mowed grass in the forest and swept away a stack of hay, but he didn’t just sweep away - cunningly: he put the haystack not on the ground, as everyone does, but right on the sleigh, so that it would be easier to take the hay out of the forest in winter.
And when winter came, Uncle Zui forgot about that hay.
“Grandfather,” says Nyurka, “aren’t you bringing hay from the forest?” Oh, did you forget?
- What kind of hay? - Uncle Zui was surprised, and then slapped himself on the forehead and ran to the chairman to ask for a horse.
The chairman gave me a good, strong horse. On it, Uncle Zui soon reached the place. He looks - his stack is covered with snow.
He began to kick the snow around the sleigh, then looked around - no horse: the damned one had gone!
He ran after him and caught up, but the horse did not go to the stack, he resisted.
“Why would she,” thinks Uncle Zui, “resist?”
Finally, Uncle Zui harnessed her to the sleigh.
- But-oh-oh!..
Uncle Zui smacks his lips and screams, but the horse doesn’t move—the runners are frozen solid to the ground. I had to tap them with a hatchet - the sleigh started moving, and there was a haystack on it. It drives just like it was standing in the forest.
Uncle Zui walks from the side and smacks his lips on the horse.
By lunchtime we got home, Uncle Zui began to unharness.
- What did you bring, Zuyushko?! - Pantelevna shouts to him.
- Hay, Pantelevna. What else?
- What do you have on your cart?
Uncle Zui looked and sat down in the snow as he stood. Some kind of terrible, crooked and shaggy muzzle stuck out from the cart - a bear!
“R-ru-u-u!..”
The bear stirred on the cart, tilted the stack to one side and fell out into the snow. He shook his head, grabbed the snow in his teeth and ran into the forest.
- Stop! - Uncle Zuy shouted. - Hold him, Pantelevna!
The bear barked and disappeared into the fir trees.
People began to gather.
The hunters came, and of course I was with them. We crowd around, looking at bear tracks.
Pasha the Hunter says:
- Look what a den he came up with for himself - Zuev Stozhok.
And Pantelevna screams and gets scared:
- How come he didn’t bite you, Zuyushko?..
“Yes,” said Uncle Zui, “now the hay will stink with bear meat.” A cow probably wouldn’t even take it into its mouth.
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